How are Norse and Celtic mythology related?

Question

I was in a charms shop a while back and they had a section laid out for Celtic Mythology charms and their meanings. I had a look and found Thor's hammer. I ask my mom and she said the Mythologies are connected. I ignore this with my small mind, thinking, "How?"

Then I get some money and took the family to Barns and Nobles. There I found a Norse Mythology book by Helen A. Guerber (I have yet to read it, but will when I get back from Basic Combat Training and AIT). I look at the cover and ask mom who it is. She looked and suggested the Green Man from Celtic Mythology.

So I now ask, how are the two Mythologies connected/related/compared?

Answer 1

How are Norse and Celtic mythology related? In a few different ways, I suppose.

1. Because they are the mythologies of similar human societies.

An example: the “Green Man” isn’t exclusively Celtic, faces made from or surrounded by leaves, fruits, vines or branches, or men with green skin, are found in ancient cultures throughout the world. Often they are related to dieties of rebirth and regeneration, responsible for the return of spring. In a society in the climate of north-western Europe during the first millennium, with rather “primitive” agriculture, without supermarkets and without refrigerators, people were much more dependent on the rebirth of nature in spring for their food supplies. A long winter could literally cost lives, so it is no wonder the return of spring was seen as a godly gift. With the earth turning green again, and plants getting leaves out of nowhere, it doesn’t seem such an illogical step to represent the god responsible for this as a green man surrounded by leaves.

Joseph Campbell, autor of a popular book with the title The Hero with a Thousand Faces, even goes as far as proposing a basic structure for myths in general, based upon a Jungian conception of archetypes.

2. Because the roots of Norse mythology supposedly lay in a Common Germanic mythology, which in turn goes back to a common (Western) Indo-European mythology from which also Celtic mythology is thought to originate.

An example: The celtic god Taranis’ name (meaning “thunderer”) is likely connected to Norse Thor (and Anglo-Saxon Thunor, German Donar, all from Common Germanic Thunraz meaning “thunderer”). Even the name of the Hittite god Tarhun might reflect the same root. But there is more: in Norse mythology, the mother of Thor is Fjörgynn. Her name is etymologically equivalent to the names of thunder gods in a lot of other Indo-European cultures, and even of other cultures influenced by the Indo-European: Slavic Perun, Lithuanian Perkunas, Sanskrit Parjanya, Albanian Perëndi, Thracian Perkon… The name is associated with the oak-tree. Maximus Tyrius in his 38th dissertation states that the Celts, too, venerate their Jupiter (i.e. their god of thunder) not with statues but by worshipping oaks instead. Germanic pagans are said to have worshipped Donar’s oak, according to Wilibald in his Life of Saint Boniface. Also the Greek God of thunder, Zeus, was worshipped in an oak tree at the ancient oracle of Dodona. Etc. etc.

3. Because they are mythologies that were in contact with each other during a considerable period of time, which favours mutual cultural influences.

As a matter of fact, Germanic and Celtic cultures have been in close contact during a long time. When the Norwegians started settling the Faroe islands and Iceland, they encountered Gaelic monks who were already living there. Lots of vikings also settled on the British isles and assimilated into society, but not without leaving traces in the culture. For example, Viking ships and weapons became models for later Irish ship and weapon designs.

Answer 2

Actually, the ancient people of northern Europe are all related (for all intents and purposes shall be referred to as Nords); as are those of the south (the pre-migration civilisation/culture known as the Pelasgians in Roman and Greek sources and were their predecessors).

One only need to look at and compare myths, language (particularly sound and core words) and art/material culture. It is technically inaccurate in most cases to claim a connection/ difference between Celtic and Norse/Germano-northern European myth considering the absence of written records during the time of a fully realised, living breathing Celtic pagan tradition before the mass conversion to Christianity and/or interpretatio Romana or the influence of either (this includes Ireland and Wales, from which current mythic texts derive).

Despite this, for the discerning scholar, even the surviving myths, folk tales and legends recorded in works such as the Cath Maige Tuired and the Lebor Gabála Érenn of Irish myth, and the Four Branches of the Mabinogi of the Welsh; all of which were written during the Middle Ages (prior to the Norse invasions) and after the Christian conversion, adapted from a muddled and compromised oral tradition stooped in taboo. Nonetheless, they hold much insightful information.

Note, the only (potentially) unaffected Celtic cult to survive for quite some time (some claim to this day, though that is not for me to argue) is that of the Druids, whom it is noted the Danes (Vikings) respected and saw much solidarity. To add to that, it should also be noted that a similar issue details much of 'Germanic', 'Slavic' and 'Uralic' myths and at times, even known gods; due to Christianisation ~ take the Prose Edda as a prime example!

All of this does not deny close contact and back and forth influence through time, as the days of the Nords and Pelasgians stretch far into prehistory, their true myths becoming subject to mutation as they became the latter tribes we are more familiar with: Pelasgians) Greeks, Italics (including Romans, Etruscans etc.), Thracians, Iberians, Anatolians, Illyrians. Nords) Celts, Scandinavians/Norse (N. Germanic), Germans (S. Germanic ~ Anglos, Saxons, Goths etc.), Uralics, Slavs ~ These are just to name those I can remember without inquiry, and is not limited to European peoples, if one observes carefully, the world is full of allusions to the once great "core" cultures of the most distant past (Indo-European is a fallacy, derived from inaccurate reconstruction based on a misunderstanding of lingua franca languages and the koine which may develop from them such as Sanskrit, as being purely original and therefore related via common ancestry).

Answer 3

Perhaps if you go by some long lost Indo-European root you can argue they are related, but then you could argue Greek and Slavic are related too.

Its actually really hard to connect Celtic mythology to itself never mind other mythologies. Brythonic and Gaelic are hard to turn into one narrative as they are both reflections of a much older and long lost Celtic root. This is because Celtic is a very broad term. When you say Norse you are being way more specific, but to compare to Celtic you would really need to say Germanic.

But the worlds are different, the foundation myths are different, the gods are very different, the philosophies and afterlife are very different and the apocalypse is very different. There might be a few point here and there where a story seems a little similar

Answer 4

The Celts, Norse, Germans, and Gauls can all be traced back to same basic origin at very different times in migrations to the north and back down. The times they overlap have long periods of time between and the similarities mostly reside in the more nomadic tribes. Like many beliefs they slowly change through regime changes. Like most all regions through time regime changes have people who question the changes the new leaders and the ones who mange to leave the region to keep the origins of their faith the same they travel long distances. Inevitably through time and generations the spoken stories (as pretty much all nomadic northern Europeans at that time had no true written language) there were still slight changes over time for thousands of years.

The reason there are some times similarities that occasionally pop up through some cultures are brief encounters with these tribes whom are there ancestors passing back through areas that settled and developed more advanced ways to record their beliefs. The places that had less change in the original beliefs would have common origins. The misconceptions that make it easy to think they all come from different areas originally is just as easy as it is to anyone who only goes by TV or movies and believe that all Norse were Vikings when they were a very small percentage.

At the end of the day the Roman's inhabited England far before Anglo-Saxon, who were also remnants of Christianized Germanic tribes and used to use Britain as housing and teaing ground for the Roman wealthy that had large teaing compounds for their gladiators of which many were Celt or Gaul. Lots of the escaped to the far regions of Britain which were unsettled and not explored by Rome so they were able to start their own settlements and what later became the Welsh and Scotland were considered later in time once Romans abandoned England. After the times of gladiators passed and Christians believed they had to spread their religion as far as they could reach began to settle in the parts of Britain closest to Spain and France, they then began to extend west and north running into Celtics tribes they deemed pagans, and unconvertable tried to force them into Christianity but were unable to match their knowledge of the land and fighting tactics but a wall and Considered everything north of that eventually scottland some where they wouldn't venture, once the vikings (explorers/raiders) of the norse and Danes landed there and worked most of the British coast they had encounters with celts and there again small similarities in beliefs crossed paths and again once they moved on to explore near by Ireland.

Trying to pin point when and where they started the origins of their initial beliefs would look like and bunch of line going back and forth, in and out overlapping hundreds of times with no way to tell the starting point. However at something they all started from one place or a few very close in proximity and changed over time as all religions do.

Answer 5

Also what a lot of people don't realize is that Celtic-Gaelic people are not native to the British Isles, that their culture was also spread completely across the European continent and they lived along side Germanic tribes. There are even tribes that go back thousands of years that are completely Norse-Gaelic or I guess in that guess it being before Norse-Gaels, they'd be Celto-Germanic tribes and ones would integrate with the other and assimilate and become full Gaelic or vice versa full Germanic. the cultures being so close to each other and spread across all of Europe makes a lot of sense why each group Germanic or Celtic have such similarities in culture and myth.